The Belarusian Government has secured stable functioning of the social sector in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko said at a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation on 19 May.
“It is based on the basic principles of the policy laid out by the head of state and aimed at a concrete person, his/her needs and interests. Within the framework of the social block of the Government's program, the main efforts are concentrated on the achievement of the social and economic development targets, the unconditional provision of our strategic priorities aimed at strengthening the human capital,” said Igor Petrishenko.
According to him, the target of the state policy remains unchanged and is aimed at ensuring a decent standard of living and quality of life for all citizens. “The main task for the current period is not to let the level of real welfare of our people, the volume and accessibility of state-guaranteed services go down,” the vice premier said.
Igor Petrishenko stressed that pensions, benefits, scholarship allowances are all paid on time. There are no arrears of wages in the social sector.
Also Deputy Prime Ministermentioned, that the goal for the current year is to bring the average retirement pension to 40% of the average wage in Belarus.
“Every fourth resident of our country is a recipient of pension payments. Expenses of the Social Security Fund for these purposes exceeded Br13.3 billion in 2020, which is more than 9% of the country's GDP. Labor pensions were revised upward twice last year. The growth of pensions outweighs inflation. In 2020, pensions rose by 9.7%, and by almost 4% in real terms. The task for this year is to maintain the real growth of pension payments and to bring the level of the average retirement pension up to 40% of the country's average wage,” Igor Petrishenko said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, everyone currently working should understand their personal responsibility for their welfare in old age - the area of responsibility of the state and the employee. “In accordance with the instruction of the head of state, we are working on a program to develop voluntary funded pensions, enabling every working person to guarantee an increase to his/her future pension. We are working on the necessary legislation today,” he stressed.
In order to prevent the growth of poverty, mechanisms of targeted support are used to help those in need within the system of state targeted social assistance. “In 2020 more than 305,000 people received such assistance. In Q1 2021, over 85,000 Belarusians were recipients of such payments. More than Br120 million are envisaged in the local budgets for these purposes this year,” Igor Petrishenko added.
Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister said, that over the past five years nearly 34,000 large families in Belarus have improved their living conditions with state support.
“Given the severity of the demographic problem, the cornerstone of the country's state policy is the comprehensive systemic support for families with children, including child allowances, the family capital, housing construction and additional pension guarantees. The state invests significant resources in all the areas vital to families. In 2020 alone, more than Br4.6 billion of budgetary funds were allocated for these purposes. Over the past five years almost 34,000 large families in Belarus have improved their living conditions with state support,” said Igor Petrishenko.
The system of state benefits covers more than 450,000 children. “In January-April 2021, the average monthly child care allowance for a child under 3 years of age increased by 16% to Br494.6, if compared to the same period last year. The Government together with the MPs has analyzed the efficiency of the measures to support large families and determined the mechanisms for their further development. The family capital program was improved in 2020. Its validity was prolonged by five years and the right for its early use for housing, healthcare, and education was provided. This year, additional proposals have been submitted to the head of state to expand the opportunities for the early use of family capital funds, including for the purchase of goods designed for the social rehabilitation of disabled persons and children with disabilities,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
The Government is also considering proposals to grant large families the right to receive additional financial assistance to improve their housing conditions, strengthen pension and labor guarantees for parents with many children.
Also Igor Petrishenko noted, that the Belarusian Government expected the parliament to adopt the bill “On the rights of people with disabilities and their social integration” by the end of 2021.
Igor Petrishenko delivered a report about the development of the Belarusian social sector. He hailed the progress in the execution of the national action plan to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the consistency of these efforts.
“The Government always keeps an eye on problems of people with disabilities. At present, there are more than 564,000 such persons in Belarus (6% of the population), 34,500 of whom are underage,” Igor Petrishenko noted.
Most activities to improve the current legislation envisaged in the national plan were taken into account in the bill “On the rights of people with disabilities and their social integration”. “On 4 June 2020, the bill passed the first reading in the House of Representatives. We expect the parliament to adopt the bill by the end of the year,” Igor Petrishenko added.
Last year, Belarus adopted several regulations to expand opportunities for social integration of people with disabilities and provide additional social support to people with disabilities. They include doubling the period of respite care from 28 to 56 days a year, increasing the free time of caregiver's services for children with disabilities from 4 to 10 hours a week, increasing the availability of caregiver's services to families with children with disabilities of groups I or II under six years old (previously, such free services were provided to children under four), and other benefits.
Belarus also improves labor opportunities for persons with disabilities. In order to raise employers' interest in hiring people with disabilities, Belarus introduced amendments to the Tax Code in 2021, offering companies, in which people with disabilities make up at least 30% of all employees, tax preferences on value added tax, profit and real estate taxes.
In 2020, the number of organizations, in which people with disabilities account for over 30% of the workforce, increased almost 1.5 times. The number of employees with disabilities at such enterprises went up by 23.5%.
The number of people with disabilities who found a job in 2020 thanks to the work of employment services almost doubled over 2019.
In 2020, the number of such workers in the country rose by over 5% to 68,800 people, or 59% of the total number of people with disabilities who are able to work.
Also Igor Petrishenkostressed, that Belarus has firmly secured its foothold in the list of the world's top performing countries in terms of education.
“The prestige and quality of national education is also evidenced by the growing export of educational services. At the same time, modern changes pose new challenges to the education system and require its continuous development to meet the national interests and to match the economic needs of the country. For that we need to improve the legal mechanisms governing the sector," Igor Petrishenko said.
A new version of the Education Code has been drawn up. "Today the parliament continues working on this bill. It has already passed the first reading in the House of Representatives. Parliamentary hearings on the document are planned in June," Igor Petrishenko noted.
Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister added, that Belarus needs to create conditions to promote a longer working life.
“Some 1.5 million of our citizens have crossed the 65-year mark. The Government has approved the National Active Longevity Strategy until 2030. The document identifies the steps to use the potential of elder people more effectively, to mitigate the effects of the ageing population. Together we need to create conditions for promoting a longer working life," Igor Petrishenko said.
Emphasis will be made on further development of medical, social and geriatric care, increasing the level of financial and computer literacy, improving the availability of electronic services for the elderly population, creating more opportunities for physical education and sports, tourism and creativity, andparticipation in public life.
“It is based on the basic principles of the policy laid out by the head of state and aimed at a concrete person, his/her needs and interests. Within the framework of the social block of the Government's program, the main efforts are concentrated on the achievement of the social and economic development targets, the unconditional provision of our strategic priorities aimed at strengthening the human capital,” said Igor Petrishenko.
According to him, the target of the state policy remains unchanged and is aimed at ensuring a decent standard of living and quality of life for all citizens. “The main task for the current period is not to let the level of real welfare of our people, the volume and accessibility of state-guaranteed services go down,” the vice premier said.
Igor Petrishenko stressed that pensions, benefits, scholarship allowances are all paid on time. There are no arrears of wages in the social sector.
Also Deputy Prime Ministermentioned, that the goal for the current year is to bring the average retirement pension to 40% of the average wage in Belarus.
“Every fourth resident of our country is a recipient of pension payments. Expenses of the Social Security Fund for these purposes exceeded Br13.3 billion in 2020, which is more than 9% of the country's GDP. Labor pensions were revised upward twice last year. The growth of pensions outweighs inflation. In 2020, pensions rose by 9.7%, and by almost 4% in real terms. The task for this year is to maintain the real growth of pension payments and to bring the level of the average retirement pension up to 40% of the country's average wage,” Igor Petrishenko said.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, everyone currently working should understand their personal responsibility for their welfare in old age - the area of responsibility of the state and the employee. “In accordance with the instruction of the head of state, we are working on a program to develop voluntary funded pensions, enabling every working person to guarantee an increase to his/her future pension. We are working on the necessary legislation today,” he stressed.
In order to prevent the growth of poverty, mechanisms of targeted support are used to help those in need within the system of state targeted social assistance. “In 2020 more than 305,000 people received such assistance. In Q1 2021, over 85,000 Belarusians were recipients of such payments. More than Br120 million are envisaged in the local budgets for these purposes this year,” Igor Petrishenko added.
Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister said, that over the past five years nearly 34,000 large families in Belarus have improved their living conditions with state support.
“Given the severity of the demographic problem, the cornerstone of the country's state policy is the comprehensive systemic support for families with children, including child allowances, the family capital, housing construction and additional pension guarantees. The state invests significant resources in all the areas vital to families. In 2020 alone, more than Br4.6 billion of budgetary funds were allocated for these purposes. Over the past five years almost 34,000 large families in Belarus have improved their living conditions with state support,” said Igor Petrishenko.
The system of state benefits covers more than 450,000 children. “In January-April 2021, the average monthly child care allowance for a child under 3 years of age increased by 16% to Br494.6, if compared to the same period last year. The Government together with the MPs has analyzed the efficiency of the measures to support large families and determined the mechanisms for their further development. The family capital program was improved in 2020. Its validity was prolonged by five years and the right for its early use for housing, healthcare, and education was provided. This year, additional proposals have been submitted to the head of state to expand the opportunities for the early use of family capital funds, including for the purchase of goods designed for the social rehabilitation of disabled persons and children with disabilities,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
The Government is also considering proposals to grant large families the right to receive additional financial assistance to improve their housing conditions, strengthen pension and labor guarantees for parents with many children.
Also Igor Petrishenko noted, that the Belarusian Government expected the parliament to adopt the bill “On the rights of people with disabilities and their social integration” by the end of 2021.
Igor Petrishenko delivered a report about the development of the Belarusian social sector. He hailed the progress in the execution of the national action plan to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the consistency of these efforts.
“The Government always keeps an eye on problems of people with disabilities. At present, there are more than 564,000 such persons in Belarus (6% of the population), 34,500 of whom are underage,” Igor Petrishenko noted.
Most activities to improve the current legislation envisaged in the national plan were taken into account in the bill “On the rights of people with disabilities and their social integration”. “On 4 June 2020, the bill passed the first reading in the House of Representatives. We expect the parliament to adopt the bill by the end of the year,” Igor Petrishenko added.
Last year, Belarus adopted several regulations to expand opportunities for social integration of people with disabilities and provide additional social support to people with disabilities. They include doubling the period of respite care from 28 to 56 days a year, increasing the free time of caregiver's services for children with disabilities from 4 to 10 hours a week, increasing the availability of caregiver's services to families with children with disabilities of groups I or II under six years old (previously, such free services were provided to children under four), and other benefits.
Belarus also improves labor opportunities for persons with disabilities. In order to raise employers' interest in hiring people with disabilities, Belarus introduced amendments to the Tax Code in 2021, offering companies, in which people with disabilities make up at least 30% of all employees, tax preferences on value added tax, profit and real estate taxes.
In 2020, the number of organizations, in which people with disabilities account for over 30% of the workforce, increased almost 1.5 times. The number of employees with disabilities at such enterprises went up by 23.5%.
The number of people with disabilities who found a job in 2020 thanks to the work of employment services almost doubled over 2019.
In 2020, the number of such workers in the country rose by over 5% to 68,800 people, or 59% of the total number of people with disabilities who are able to work.
Also Igor Petrishenkostressed, that Belarus has firmly secured its foothold in the list of the world's top performing countries in terms of education.
“The prestige and quality of national education is also evidenced by the growing export of educational services. At the same time, modern changes pose new challenges to the education system and require its continuous development to meet the national interests and to match the economic needs of the country. For that we need to improve the legal mechanisms governing the sector," Igor Petrishenko said.
A new version of the Education Code has been drawn up. "Today the parliament continues working on this bill. It has already passed the first reading in the House of Representatives. Parliamentary hearings on the document are planned in June," Igor Petrishenko noted.
Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister added, that Belarus needs to create conditions to promote a longer working life.
“Some 1.5 million of our citizens have crossed the 65-year mark. The Government has approved the National Active Longevity Strategy until 2030. The document identifies the steps to use the potential of elder people more effectively, to mitigate the effects of the ageing population. Together we need to create conditions for promoting a longer working life," Igor Petrishenko said.
Emphasis will be made on further development of medical, social and geriatric care, increasing the level of financial and computer literacy, improving the availability of electronic services for the elderly population, creating more opportunities for physical education and sports, tourism and creativity, andparticipation in public life.